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19/09/2013

The Tripods Season 1 Episodes 10 & 11

Episode 10: For an episode The Tripods forgets
itself. Here we are imagining it to be a silly kid’s series and then it comes
over all reflective and lyrical. There’s a lovely scene when Madame Vichot is
trying to cheer up mopey Will by telling him about her past life. With a
sparkle in her eyes she details travels and a zeal for discovery that she had
before capping and, more importantly, how some of that has remained in her head
afterwards. She becomes, in only a couple of episodes, a quite marvellous
character especially portrayed by Anni Lee Taylor as if she is in a proper
drama or something! In writing and acting terms she really is the first
convincing three dimensional character we’ve met. Naturally she forces everyone
to raise their game and even John Shackley manages his best scene so far
playing opposite her.

"Thank goodness Primark survived"

Her
room full of `old` treasures- in fact more recent objects the viewer will
recognise- adds a visual motif to Madame Vichot’s dialogue. Her speech about
love and aspiration is delivered with sincerity and in terms of the original
novel is presumably supposed to suggest she is a similar soul to Will.
Unfortunately the tv show has thus far allowed Will to show little of that same
spirit, his lines generally having been either banal or whiny.

The episode revolves, sometimes a little more clumsily, around the burgeoning
relationships between the boys and some of the girls and has a carefree
attitude to it with much singing, dancing and jumping around on grapes. Some
may find it dull but I think it adds a much needed human element to a scenario
that so far has relied on a trio of main characters whose motivations and
feelings have been conveyed through uninspiring expositional dialogue. They are
supposedly on the journey of a lifetime fraught with peril and pain yet also
opening a whole new world to them yet you’d think they’d just been into town
for a few hours shopping.

Madame Vichot’s story, her identification with Will and the others suggests a
fabulous tale lurking underneath somewhere about how explorers can become world
changers and about holding on to the things you value. You feel the series can
never realise such ambition but it is a relief to watch an episode that at
least tries.

Episode 11: France is one crazy
place, n’est pas? This week the trio nick some food from a man with an
unfeasibly gigantic hat and pretend to be monkeys. In one of the pacier
episodes, we find them tired and hungry, especially Henry who never misses an
opportunity to moan. After a river crossing escapade in which Beanpole gets
soaked they hitch a lift to a local fair (a chemin du fair?) where they see an
opportunity to steal some food. Once again the scale of the production
impresses with more extras than you’d expect loitering for croissant in a
ruined castle.

The Mayor is collecting taxes though how anyone makes money in this Tripod run
society is not clear. Do the Guards pay people? For that matter where and how
are the coins made in this apparently non industrial environment? One suspects
this particular Mayor might be siphoning funds and hiding them inside a
ridiculously large hat he is sporting. It’s so big he can’t even join in the
chase to pursue the boys when they make off with the average contents of a
Delice de France counter and the rest of the villagers stop at the boundary of
a forest marked out by skulls on sticks.

There then follows a bizarre interlude in which the trio encounter face
painted, gibbering folk probably from a drama group who jump around, make
animal noises rather than talk and do not seem capable of boiling a cup of tea
never mind organising a macabre barrier. In his best moment of French common
sense yet, Beanpole decides the way to escape is to pretend they too are animals.
In all likelihood none of the actors can now watch this scene and its hard
going for the rest of us. Henry noticeably does not partake in any on screen
(j)apery perhaps mindful that thirty years hence people might be reviewing this
and thinking “what the…”

Director Christopher Barry does add a lot of verve to this episode which helps
conceal some of the silliness of the woodland savages. Thankfully our heroes
are soon returned to the clutches of Mayor Large Hat and discover that they
will stand trial and if found guilty of stealing loaves (and possibly fishes)
will be capped “tomorrow”. It’s just like Les Miserables though
thankfully nobody starts singing about bread.